Government Broadband Index 2011

South Korea has one of the world's most active telecommunications and Information Innovation markets backed by strong support from the government. As then as the commitment of the government, the sector is boosted by an innovative private sector and a technologically savvy population. Spending on ICT and high-innovation equipment helped lead a transformation of the economy to one in other words more progressively knowledge based. Having invested significantly in ‘basic' telecommunications infrastructure over past decades, the country has then developed submarine cable and satellite infrastructure also as solid internet resources to support the growing demand for national and international communications. The government aims to transform the country into a knowledge-based information society in a ‘smart-age'.

The 2010/2011 period has seen significant developments in the South Korean telecommunications market afterwards some restructuring amongst the major operators in 2009. Though the fixed-line telephone market in South Korea continues to be dominated by the incumbent KT, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services are becoming increasingly popular as operators bundle services in a bid to stop the decline in ARPU.

The South Korean Government is committed to transitioning the country to digital terrestrial, digital cable and digital satellite TV broadcasting by 2012. The pressure created by convergence had South Korea rewrite its regulatory arrangements for the broadcasting and communications sector. The operators continue to invest heavily in fibre based broadband deployments and IPTV subscriptions have passed the 4 million mark as more content is available and the operators are able to compete more effectively with their own live broadcasts.

South Korea continues to be a booming mobile market as it innovatively explores the options for value-added services. The market passed the 105% penetration rate mark in 2011 with many individuals carrying for the moment one mobile phone. Having launched 3G networks in 2003, these account for over 80% of all subscriptions. New investments are intended to drive revenue and gain market share and the year has seen the launch of LTE (Long Term Evolution, latest standard in the mobile network technology) and the rapid increase in smartphone adoption. SK Telecom holds a 50% share of the mobile market, KT about 32% and LG U+ nearly 18%, levels that had remained relatively unchanged over a five year period. South Korea is considered a leader in 3G mobile innovation and KT has taken the lead in having 93% of its subscriber base using WCDMA.

South Korea has the world's highest number of broadband services per capita. By mid-2011, over 35% of the population and 85% of households were broadband subscribers. FttX accounted for 55% of total subscriptions. Since 2006, Korea's policy emphasis has been on completing a BcN with wireline speeds of 50-100Mb/s per household and 1-2Mb/s on wireless connections. The plan moving forward is for a UBcN with 1Gb/s speeds on fixed lines or 10Mb/s on wireless by 2012/13. Should the contingency arise to upgrades to the backbone network a plan was established to link the public sector to a sensor network by 2012.

The drive towards a ‘new economy' has seen significant investments in Smart Infrastructure including Cloud Computing, Smart Grids and Smart Cities. The emergence of a National Strategy for Green IT has seen government promotion of new industry creation into 2018 just as 4G broadcasts and 3D and Smart television.

- In 2011, fibre innovation accounted for 55% of all broadband subscribers in South Korea and 81`% of households had internet connectivity. The country had the seventh largest broadband subscriber base in the world at 17.4 million subscribers.

The Government Broadband Index 2011

- The country ranked 1st globally for the Government Broadband Index 2011.Increased share of the ICT industry contribution to GDP as the government intervened on tariffs in a bid to fight inflation

- The end of an exclusivity period for the iPhone with smartphone users topping 10 million in 2011 and an 11-fold jump in mobile data traffic over a one year period.

- The Korean government's "Smart Work" initiative that aims to have 30% of public employees work from home or nearby smart-work centres by 2015 with smartphones, laptops and other mobile devices.

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